The Leaky Gut Theory of Why Animal Products Cause Inflammation

A single meal of meats, eggs, and dairy can cause a spike of inflammation within hours that can stiffen one’s arteries. Originally, this was thought to be the result of saturated animal fat causing our gut lining to leak bacterial toxins into our bloodstream, leading to endotoxemia.

The anti-inflammatory effect of plant-based diets is more than just about the power of plants, but also the avoidance of animal foods. We’ve known for 15 years that a single meal high in animal fat— Sausage and Egg McMuffins® were used in the original landmark study—can cause an immediate elevation in inflammation within our bodies, that peaks at about four hours.

Remember the whole endothelial dysfunction story, where you can hook people up to a device that can measure the natural dilation of their arteries and blood flow through ultrasound?

So, as you can see here, within hours of eating animal fat, our arteries get paralyzed. We nearly cut their ability to open normally in half. And that’s not just happening in our arm; the lining of our whole vascular tree gets inflamed, stiffened, crippled, from just one meal!

And just as it starts to calm down, five or six hours later, we may whack it with another load of meat, eggs, or dairy for lunch—such that most of our lives, we’re stuck in this chronic low-grade inflammation danger zone, which may set us up for inflammatory diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, kind of one meal at a time.

Does the same thing happen in our lungs? Yes, again, after just hours. Inflammation in our airways. A single meal with animal fat causing internal damage not just decades down the road, but right then and there; that day.

What exactly is causing the inflammation, though? Well, what is inflammation? It’s an immune response to a perceived threat. What’s the body attacking, though? Well, at first—like in arthritis—scientists thought it might be the animal proteins triggering inflammation, which the body might see as like an invader, whereas the reason plant foods don’t trigger inflammation was thought to be because the body doesn’t consider plants a threat.

But, you can get the same jolt of inflammation just eating whipped cream. There isn’t a lot of protein in whipped cream. So, attention turned to the fat, the saturated animal fat: butterfat, or lard, tallow, chicken fat. But that still doesn’t answer the original question. What is the body attacking? Our immune system doesn’t attack just fat.

So they dug deeper, analyzing people’s blood before and after the meal, and found something extraordinary. After a meal of animal products, people suffer from endotoxemia. Their bloodstream becomes awash with bacterial toxins, known as endotoxins.

Okay, well, that certainly explains the inflammation. We’ve evolved to be acutely sensitive to bacterial invasion, and with this much endotoxin flooding into our system after a meal, our immune system must feel it’s, you know, under assault.

Okay, but where are the endotoxins coming from? Well, the researchers knew endotoxins come from bacteria, and they figured, hey, where is there bacteria? In the gut, right? So, maybe animal fat causes our gut lining to become leaky, and allow our own bacteria to slip into our bloodstream and cause the inflammation, every time we eat.

And indeed, that’s what they found—in mice. You feed them lard, and their guts get leaky. And so, for years, the prevailing theory has been that “saturated fats increase the permeability of intestinal [lining] and [that] contribute[s] to the breakdown of the intestinal barrier.” But is that true in people? Stay tuned.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Serena.

The anti-inflammatory effect of plant-based diets is more than just about the power of plants, but also the avoidance of animal foods. We’ve known for 15 years that a single meal high in animal fat— Sausage and Egg McMuffins® were used in the original landmark study—can cause an immediate elevation in inflammation within our bodies, that peaks at about four hours.

Remember the whole endothelial dysfunction story, where you can hook people up to a device that can measure the natural dilation of their arteries and blood flow through ultrasound?

So, as you can see here, within hours of eating animal fat, our arteries get paralyzed. We nearly cut their ability to open normally in half. And that’s not just happening in our arm; the lining of our whole vascular tree gets inflamed, stiffened, crippled, from just one meal!

And just as it starts to calm down, five or six hours later, we may whack it with another load of meat, eggs, or dairy for lunch—such that most of our lives, we’re stuck in this chronic low-grade inflammation danger zone, which may set us up for inflammatory diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, kind of one meal at a time.

Does the same thing happen in our lungs? Yes, again, after just hours. Inflammation in our airways. A single meal with animal fat causing internal damage not just decades down the road, but right then and there; that day.

What exactly is causing the inflammation, though? Well, what is inflammation? It’s an immune response to a perceived threat. What’s the body attacking, though? Well, at first—like in arthritis—scientists thought it might be the animal proteins triggering inflammation, which the body might see as like an invader, whereas the reason plant foods don’t trigger inflammation was thought to be because the body doesn’t consider plants a threat.

But, you can get the same jolt of inflammation just eating whipped cream. There isn’t a lot of protein in whipped cream. So, attention turned to the fat, the saturated animal fat: butterfat, or lard, tallow, chicken fat. But that still doesn’t answer the original question. What is the body attacking? Our immune system doesn’t attack just fat.

So they dug deeper, analyzing people’s blood before and after the meal, and found something extraordinary. After a meal of animal products, people suffer from endotoxemia. Their bloodstream becomes awash with bacterial toxins, known as endotoxins.

Okay, well, that certainly explains the inflammation. We’ve evolved to be acutely sensitive to bacterial invasion, and with this much endotoxin flooding into our system after a meal, our immune system must feel it’s, you know, under assault.

Okay, but where are the endotoxins coming from? Well, the researchers knew endotoxins come from bacteria, and they figured, hey, where is there bacteria? In the gut, right? So, maybe animal fat causes our gut lining to become leaky, and allow our own bacteria to slip into our bloodstream and cause the inflammation, every time we eat.

And indeed, that’s what they found—in mice. You feed them lard, and their guts get leaky. And so, for years, the prevailing theory has been that “saturated fats increase the permeability of intestinal [lining] and [that] contribute[s] to the breakdown of the intestinal barrier.” But is that true in people? Stay tuned.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Serena.

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In the last three videos I relayed the latest on the anti-inflammatory effect of plant-based diets. See AchievingRemission of Crohn’s Disease, FightingInflammation in a Nut Shell, and Anti-InflammatoryEffects of Purple Potatoes. The endothelial dysfunction story I mentionin this video is described in The Powerof NO and the reference to animal proteins and arthritis is explainedin Diet& Rheumatoid Arthritis. Stay tuned for tomorrow’sNutritionFacts.org video-of-the-day, TheExogenous Endotoxin Theory, and in the meanwhile please feel free tocheck out the 1,000+ othertopics I cover.

Great video (again). 100 years ago Professor Pawlov made “Ecks Fistel”. He operated on dogs and he connected vena portae (blod from the gut) directly with vena cava inf. (blod to the heart) thereby bypassing the liver “in the first round”. When the dogs were feed plants nothing happened. When the dogs were feed meat they all died.

Dogs need NO meat. They are omnivores who can thrive in a vegan diet. My rescue dog successfully transitioned to a vegan diet under the eye of our vet and is FAR healthier now than when we got him, and he’s 10 years old. Cats are obligate carnivores and do need meat, but dogs do not.

I can’t tell you how amazing this inflammation series is to me. For the 20 years I have had the autoimmune disease of both ears. After having both eardrums replaced my eardrums again reverted back to the pre-surgery thickened state which makes sound conduction impossible. Went I went back to my doctor 4 years ago and said, “ok replace both eardrums again” he replied that he couldn’t because it will just happen again.

Frustrated I went home and researched Acquired Atricia, which lead me to autoimmune,and inflammation surfing on Google. After the reading research articles and going to various websites I decided a change in diet was the key. My diet had always been healthy with no processed foods but I dropped dairy, sugar, gluten. So my diet was plant based with meat about 4 times per week. Strictly organic and grass feed. Within 1 ear my doctor replaced my right eardrum and my left 10 months ago. I would estimate I eat meat 1 time per week, if that. When my doctor look at my ears 2 weeks ago he said they look the best they have ever looked. I am thinking 100% plant based is even better for my autoimmune disease! Dr. Greger you are the best! (sorry for the typos my iPad is stupid.)

Let me clarify that. Fish one time per week. I stopped the free range farmers market chicken after your chicken arthritis videos. But now I am thinking, scaling the animal protein down over the last 4years has been what allowed my doctor to replaced my eardrums one last time! I am thinking vegan for me!

No. Absolutely not. I love to hear. But what is surprising to me is how dramatic it’s been. And also I have done this on my own. I absolutely love my doctor/surgeon he has said Gale we don’t know but if you cure it we will name the disease after you. It has been a long journey with natural paths, allergists etc. but diet is definitly the key.

You know how some doctors will say, “well of course that person got better they changed from eating junk to improving their diet.” I havent eaten junk way before my ear issue. My only change was no gluten, (stomach ache) no sugar, no dairy and much less animal protein.

You dont want a disease named after you – instead I will propose “Gales cure” !!!

Admirable that you did it on your own.

By the way: Caldwell B. Esselstyn MD says: Moderation kills!

No sugar, no dairy, no (less) animal protein is probably a big step from your previous diet (even if it was considered “healthy”) In my view you cant have a healthy diet if you eat any animal products (well once in a while probably doesn`t hurt)

Gale, I am wondering how things have been and where you stand with your food-triggers re: ears. Certain gluten grains and small amounts of chicken cause piercing ear pain for me. So strange, bizarre. I really wish I understood better the scientific logic as to why this occurs.

Elsie, I know that I suffer in different ways when I eat certain things. I was taught to rotate my diet every 4 days when I was extremely ill. I was told to keep a food diary for each meal and then write down the symptoms that occurred after each meal. It is called The Rotation Diet. I made it like a calender and kept it on the refrigerator. I made simple meals so that I could target the foods that caused me problems.

All my food had to be fresh….nothing from a can or a box or package. If I ate eggs for breakfast on Monday then I could not have eggs for 4 days. I eliminated all dairy as I was told it was a mucous forming product…no cheese…no yogurt…..no creamer for coffee. I started feeling better right away!

I found out the foods that caused certain symptoms and if I had to have them I ate them maybe one time a month. My body healed and I continue to follow the rotation diet today. Now very few foods bother me.

Lastly I do juice a couple of times a week now and feel so much energy afterwards.

The way we eat is a habit. We were taught our eating patterns. Choosing better foods will push out the bad habits and replace them with healthier choices that will help support a healthier immune system.

Elsie I hope this gets to you. Sorry but I never got this reply-I suppose because I actually registered to the website.
So to make a long story short–I am doing great and have never been healthier. After this exchange with my favorite doctors I went vegan that day. (July 4, 2012) I haven’t missed meat one bit.

So both of my eardrums were replaced as I stated above at the beginning of this thread and that autoimmune disease is behind me! I actually went swimming in the ocean for the first time a few weeks back which has been off limits in the past.

The very curious thing that has happened since going WFPB which I didn’t expect is that my thyroid medication has been cut in half. So originally I was on 200mcg of Synthroid. I am now down to 100mcg. I just had my blood work done last week so we will see if the dose goes down further. My endocrinologist is by no means an integrated medicine type but her theory is that my gut has healed and I am absorbing more. She doesn’t seem to think the thyroid gland has actually healed due to the nature of the disease and the scaring that takes place but who knows? I have done MedLine searches and I can’t find anything that says “oh yeah expect your thyroid meds to go down when you become WFPB” so I will be a case study of 1.

he is not PURE VEgan. He has done AMAZING Work, But He has admitted to eating some animal Products. I LOVE Dr. Esselstyn, But He does not say, DOWN with MEAT, Eat ONLY Plant Based….He does preach some moderation. It is We, The Extreme Zealots For Our Own Health That Take it All the Way. :) Kat Harris

Gale even doctors of old, the 1st physicians said let food be your medicine. The more you delve into veganism and nutrition the more you will see the sense of that. A very pale vegan that eats nothing but the best and healthiest vegan vittles will still get skin cancer if they’re not careful, but most diseases are almost non-existant if we would only eat a plant based diet, that’s whole food, not junk food vegan, and mostly raw too. If you eat nothing but sweetened, refined vegan foods, you’ll probably get diabetic if not overweight, but the whole foods and limiting foods with a lot of ingredients helps.

Gale if fishes that eat out of your hand don’t seem like nice beautiful creatures, sentient creatures then at least stop eating them because they’re overfished, in 50 years there will be none. But if that doesn’t bother you, remember this: fish are full of heavy metals. They stay in the fish’es tissues, when eaten by a bigger fish it doubles, then the next bigger fish eats it and YEP it triples! So maybe not every fish you eat is the size of a huge marlin or a sail fish, but still imagine the amount of heavy metal in the flesh of such an animal. Tuna are a good sized fish, so plenty of heavy metals in them too. It helps to get fish from the Alaskan seas, like halibut, but they have some too! Give up fish if you can or at least cut back some.

I hope these studies lead to a “unified theory” of autoimmune disease – with the goal to “cure” these cruel diseases by finding a way to STOP the attack on our own bodies. I have not been able to do that with my own autoimmune neuropathy even though I’ve been faithful to a Fuhrman style high nutrient, gluten free diet for four years. I’m still looking for the key even though I’m surely better off than I would have been with SAD.

The claim I hear is that animal products won’t cause inflammation if people suppliment with probiotics. Any truth to this claim? were these studies taking into account people with good digestive flora when considering inflammation?

The saturated fats a family that varies a bit depending on the number of
carbon atoms typically either 5,12, 14, 16 or 18. The body handles
these similarly although studies suggest some differences. What is clear
that they are all calorically dense foods which contribute to obesity.
We don’t “need” them… we need to consume omega3 and omega6 unsaturated
fatty acids. Also saturated fats often travel with other natural (such as cholesterol and animal protein) see…http://nutritionfacts.org/video/plant-protein-preferable/ and
unnatural compounds( pcbs, endocrine disrupters, pesticides) see…http://nutritionfacts.org/video/dioxins-in-the-food-supply/… which cause
other problems and are associated with food borne illnesses. I would
recommend applying the precautionary principle and avoiding. Eating
whole foods and avoiding foods with labels avoids many problems. Unfortunately it is impossible to test the saturated fats independently since all oils have a mixture of unsaturated oils.

Right from the get-go the study is flawed. They used sausage egg McMuffin and the tested people afterward. Inflammation occurred. But since the flour/wheat based muffin was not separated from the sausage we have no way of definitively knowing weather it was the muffin or the meat that caused the inflammation. Wheat is a known inflammatory. You may as well have told all the participants to wear blue shirts, eat the egg mcmuffin and the tested them. You could just as easily conclude that wearing blue shirts causes arterial inflammation as the sausage did based on the method of this study.

31 completely isolated peoples around the world had one thing in common.

NO Tooth decay (less than 1% of combined population)
No crooked Teeth (aka crowding of the teeth, narrowed jaw line)
No other Hindrances in Bodily Bones Structures.
No Difficulties in birthing
(Women commonly have wider pelvic bone region, Giving birth was super quick, was common for women to gave birth in solitude.)
Virtually Disease free (Tuberculosis was not present)

common similarites within these people are….
high intake Vitamins, Minerals, water soluable and most importantly fat soluble vitamins (fat soluables were 5X to 8x higher than typical intakes of big cities)

why?
their Stewardship with the land was much different than commonly found in the many depleting characteristics of agriculture)

Be United! Be Be United!
a preview of the book is available in bittorrent form,
MP3 Audio book is great for my busy lifestyle.

I agree this study is flawed and driven by a zealot like need to present information unfairly. Animal fats are good because they have HDL which are good. Carbs, sugar, unsaturated fats like vegetable oil, canola oils are the killers.

I also think the study is somewhat flawed. He asks where is the endotoxins coming from and states they come from a leaky gut, and concludes animal meat causes this.The picture of fat in arteries is also doubtful I think, but the important thing is if the fat adheres to the wall or not and builds up.That depends on inflammation of the wall and enough HDL. If you eat food with anti inflammatory agents, high anti oxydant ( read fruit, berries etc) you can counteract for the inflammatory process. Salmon , mackerel, herring has the good omega 3’s that help with this as well. There are multiple reasons you can get a leaky gut. Pesticides, yeast overgrowth. Yeast overgrowth comes from eating too much refined food and sugar. Glyphosate from Round Up that they spray wheat with before harvesting I think is the main culprit along with eating too much sugar.Many get better from stopping eating wheat( which happen to have gluten) Probiotics is a muct once you have stabilized the gut. I got a lot better from my gut by drinking kefir, taking glutamine that protects the lining of the gut. Overall I think a better advise is, eat organic whenever you can, wholefoods as much as you can and eat animal products in moderation and again preferably organic( if not organic eat lean, to avoid toxins in the fat. )

But say you do have poor lipid metabolism and don’t want to eat low carb or low fat? Are you screwed until you improve your lipid metabolism? Not really, it looks like having enough nitric oxide around to help properly dilate the blood vessels and having high levels of endogenous and exogenous antioxidants totally prevents this phenomenon, rendering it a total moot point.

So basically everything prevents lipids from damaging the arteries. If your arteries don`t function properly and can’t respond to changes in the contents of circulation than you may have a problem. I can’t stress enough the notion of context. Some nutrients prevent damage to the body, and some of them do it by helping the body transport other nutrients safely. You always want to go look for things that falsify your hypothesis and show that a nutrient is not harmful under certain circumstances, especially circumstances that we should be obtaining anyway like exercising, eating foods with antioxidants, getting enough nitric oxide precursors, etc.

As for endotoxemia, it is true that dietary fat can potentially cause leaky gut, and so can glucose (I’m not seeing any suggestions to stop eating whole wheat bread though…) but orange juice doesn’t. Why? The researchers have figures this out, during their digestion macronutrients produce oxidative stress which damages the gut lining, and so orange juice with its high concentration of flavanoids will prevent this and then some. Does that mean switch your fat and bread to orange juice only? Well no, you could have all 3 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20200256 Orange juice, a piece of toast, and eggs for breakfast, without endotoxemia? Gasp!

You could easily find this paper in the side bar on pubmed where the paper in the video was taken from. Imagine that! It looks like it is desirable to have something rich in antioxidants during a meal, and everyone should be doing this, so it becomes a moot point whether or not glucose of fat will cause leaky gut by themselves. It’s easily preventable, and everyone who has a good diet will be unscathed by glucose and fat. Spices, vegetables, fruits, all of that can be expected to protect the gut lining from normal damage during a meal.

>>Spices, vegetables, fruits, all of that can be expected to protect the gut lining from normal damage during a meal.<<

"Expectation" is generally not considered to constitute strong evidence, so I don't put any faith in the above. Spices–I doubt that peppercorns and various other "hot" condiments are gut-friendly, as many people complain of irritation with these spices. Stabby, the natural world is a dangerous neighborhood and many plants contain toxicants, having evolved them as a means of defense against predation. Case-by-case is the way to go, IMO, with particular attention to dose. [black peppercorns contain safrole, a carcinogen at sufficiently high doses]. How friendly are plants? Here's Bruce Ames: http://toxicology.usu.edu/endnote/05012008011.pdf

Well of course I meant that the ones that could be demonstrated to have high antioxidant activity in the same way that orange juice does, not all of them. I should have been more clear there.

Also agreed on the fact that plants have toxins. More natural ones than synthetic ones from agriculture. All in all I think that there is little risk to most vegetables, fruits, and spices and much benefit. The notion of toxicity as a major source of disease needs to be pit against the ability of the body to protect itself, detoxify, and such. And some foods with toxins, even some toxins like polyphenols, can be our best friends in that regard. Turmeric has toxins but the net effect on our antioxidant and toxin metabolizing enzymes is very positive.

But I’m not going to say that all plants that we regard as food are benign, no way.

Agreed, I’m actually just here because someone posted this on facebook and I was aware of the issue and the whole story, that both glucose and fat produce ROS and leaky gut as they get digested and flavanoids like those in orange juice can prevent it.

I find that a lot of the supposed problems with “animal foods” are eliminated by eating a whole diet that is healthy in general. There is a synergy in a diet between many foods, and if it looks like we’re not adapted to a particular food it’s not always that simple, we can’t be said to be adapted to a particular food or maladapted to it, but to entire diets.

And I recognize the nutritional usefulness of “animal foods” and so I always look for a way in which a potential problem with certain ones could be avoided in order to benefit from a more diverse diet.

What I get from this is that you can eat foods that are apparently harmful, harmful being defined as causing inflammation, as long as you consume antioxidants with that meal. Would you then presume that these high antioxidant meals merely act as a buffer to the inflammation, and that this reduction in inflammation merely reaches a baseline, or close to it. To summarize what I am trying to say, consuming an inflammatory food with a high antioxidant food may buffer the inflammation, but eliminating this highly inflammatory food altogether and consuming only ant-inflammitory foods would be more beneficial in that there is no need to buffer, freeing the antioxidants to ease oxidative stress in other cells. Buffering has already been established when it comes to consuming kale juice and smoking, but I don’t see this as an excuse to smoke as long as you consume Kale juice as well as other high antioxidant foods.

None of these studies “prove” that the saturated fat is causing this inflammatory response. The products consumed in these studies include meat, dairy, eggs, grains. One of the biggest confounding variables of all the mentioned studies is the fact that they don’t test saturated fat alone. Saponins, protease inhibitors, and lectins are in products such as dairy, grains, and legumes – these are all components proven to permeablize the gut, causing bacterial translocation, leading to those low levels of chronic inflammation. Saturated fat hasn’t been scientifically shown to produce this affect. Further studies testing the fat alone must be conducted before the interpretation that saturated fat causes a leaky can be made.

Yep, and where are the tests of the many plant sources of sat.fat? And how much sat.fat IS there in chicken breast-meat? Almost none.

And, for that matter, despite the appeal of the hypothesis, many 100s of millions of major endotoxin eaters live long, healthy, happy lives, free of apparent inflammatory disease. And weren’t some of the alleged longest-lived human cultures those who guzzled fermented milk products?

Re a heart attack or stroke, we are far from quantifying or even assigning causality here.

I truly do love this site, and frequently recommend it in my work, and appreciate the work Dr. Greger is doing. However, at times I get frustrated with some of the postings. I find the premise of the site – that a vegan diet is superior in every way, for every one – to be a completely unfounded, and potentially dangerous, inference to make as a universal recommendation. There are many sound indigenous diets that incorporate animal products daily. Yes, for some people vegan diets maximize their biochemical capacities. However, for others (I would argue the majority) they do not. I have seen many folks blood work, mood, and overall vitality improve with the inclusion of HIGH-QUALITY animal products. I have also seen myriad folks wilt on a vegan diet, and fight it until they again include some animals products and are reanimated–in spirit and blood markers. I don’t believe there is a single panacea diet as each individual must be regarded in terms of their composition, level of activity, goals, and age. No two people are alike. We cannot trap patients within physicians’ philosophical orientations.

This particular posting features articles based on people eating McDonald’s Egg McMuffins and then posits that ALL animal fat triggers inflammation? This is absurd. How is fastfood animal fat, or industrial farmed animal products, necessarily indicative of all animal fat? How can folks simply conflate degree and kind? For example, grass-fed beef is not the same as McDonald’s beef. There are shades of ambiguity that a physician must navigate. If human diet recommendations were so black and white, then we would have never survived as a species as evolution hinges on adaptation.

I’m sincerely not trying to be disrespectful, I’m just merely highlighting that medicine and health care require a hermeneutical keenness that frees individual patients from becoming abstracted generalities. Yes it is easier to provide care if you have the “right” answer but that doesn’t necessarily make one a good physician or health advocate. We need to be open to the possibility that because patients are different, they thrive in different ways. This is the foundation of patient-centered care. I digress…

The reason Dr. Greger promotes a vegan diet so strongly is because there is an abundance of evidence that animal foods do indeed increase our risk for chronic illnesses and when one is trying to reverse a chronic illness animal foods only hurt, not help the treatment/reversal of this disease. For example, the inclusion of a single serving of meat in a week when trying to treat type 2 diabetes significantly regresses the treatment.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2677007

In this day and age, healthy populations are increasingly hard to find. The inuits even who have a meat centric diet live on average 10 years less then the average American. The okinawans on the other hand who had almost a totally plant based diet with the inclusion of a small amount of meat have the most centenarians per capita in their population. I am not sure if they have been westernized but this data was taken back from the 1950’s.

Caloric restriction, the traditional Okinawan diet, and healthy
aging: the diet of the world’s longest-lived people and its potential
impact on morbidity and life span.

TABLE 1. Traditional dietary intake of Okinawans and other Japanese circa 1950

Data derived from analysis of U.S. National Archives, archived food records, 1949 and based on survey of 2279 persons.

Some points:

Their diet was 85% carb, and 6% fat. Sweet potatoes (a Japanese
sweet potato) made up almost 70% of their calories. Nuts were less than
1% of calories (the equivalent of 1/10 of an ounce a day) Oil was
less than 2% of calories (which is about 1 tsp a day) and sugars were
less than 1% of calories (less than a tsp a day)

The total animal products including fish was less than 4% of
calories which is less then 70 calories a day. That is the equivalent
of around 2 oz of animal products or less a day.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17986602

Furthermore, we understand more and more what specific nutrients in animal foods are harmful and the mechanics behind this. As this mountain of knowledge continues to build , it becomes more clear that a plant based diet is indeed truly superior to any other diet out there.

Grains have been implicated in only positive health attributes, and most major cultures of the world have a starch, including grains, that they thrive on. You cannot try and argue this philosophically with me, provide some science based evidence for your claims.

Great video.
Thank you for all the hard work and effort you make to deliver us the best of science about nutrition. I’m huge fan of your work for quite a long time.

But back to video. Reminds me your previous video titled “Soymilk Suppression?”. I’ve heard that black tea is product of fermentation, so I wonder if it could contains some amount of endotoxin. Due to that if dairy or soy milk is added to tea and is known to block some properties of that tea I wander if that mechanism could be somehow connected with endotoxin.
Moreover I’m interesting where this endotoxin is actualy absorbed? Would it be in the stomach? And if so, is it especially saturated fat that enhance this absorption, or would it be any kind fo fat? I’m curious if there is any studies that measured andotoxin level after saturated and unsaturated fat cansumption.
And finally, what about another fermented foods? I know that endotoxin is mainly produced by gram-negative bacteria, so what about vinegar for example?
Thank you once again and looking forward to your answer.

I have been reading a lot about this Paleo diet (not that I would ever eat meat again), but I do have a couple of questions– Mark Sisson and co have been saying that it isn’t animal products, but grains that are inflammatory. This (they say) results from wheat trying to protect itself from being eaten and releasing toxins that the body can’t break down. Is there any truth to this? Also they are talking about people becoming “fat-adapted” http://www.marksdailyapple.com/what-does-it-mean-to-be-fat-adapted-part-2-qa/#ixzz20G2qImsZ

Does this happen? Is it a good thing? And does the difference of grass-fed cows make a huge difference and actually lower the chance for heart disease? These are all claims that I have been wondering about.

The paleo diet relies heavily on pseudo science. Dr. Greger actually covers this diet in his free e book here with over a thousand referenceshttp://www.atkinsexposed.org/

Wheat does indeed have these antinutrients, or so called “toxins” in them. But that’s only half the story, because cooking deactivates these anti-nutrients which include lectins, phytic acid, trypsin and α-amylase inhibitors. This is fairly well established common nutritional knowledge.

As far as inflammation goes, we have here, strong scientific evidence that endotoxins cause inflammation with laboratory tests to confirm this. We now understand the majority of the mechanics behind it. Again, the paleo diet advocates make assertions without good evidence or half truths. They commonly look at the inuits as their role models or other tribes, such as the maaize, living on a meat centric diet. What they fail to mention is that the Inuits live 10 years less then the average American and that the maaize live on average till about the age of 45. The concept of trying to live like our ancestors is appealing, but these short life expectancies are something i do not idolize. This same logic can be seen with many raw foodists who also use this argument of trying to live like our ancestors.

I’m not paleo, but i am a health researcher and the concepts of paleo are not pseudo science. Why is it that gut healing diets are all centered around cutting out grains and legumes and eating bone broth, Meats and veggies… And why do the majority of people heal eating this way…? I unfortunately know too many former vegan who are eating a paleo diet bc of poor health that they developed as a vegan. I think it comes down to ur personal biochemistry. And, what’s unhealthy about a natural diet of veg, fruits, nuts, fish, eggs, meats? Everything in moderation, peeps?!

The concept of Moderation is killing Americans. On average, Americans are taking in less than 40% of the minimum recommended amounts of Whole Grains, Vegetables, Fruits and Fiber. Yet, at the same time, they are taking in over 230% of the amount of Sat Fat,Added Sugars, Fats, Refined Grains and Sodium.

So, who can moderate?

Moderation would do absolutely nothing to improve these numbers.What we do need is a dramatic increase in the amount of fruits, vegetables and whole grains while at the same time a dramatic decrease in the amount of Sat Fat, added sugars, fats, refined grains and sodium.

Moderation is only an excuse and rationalization which is being fueled by the clever marketing and advertising of the food industry to keep us doing the things we know we shouldn’t be doing and to keep us consuming their products, which in the end, is actually a major contributor to our ill health and early death.

We are all humans, and I do believe while humans can eat a number of foods, there is indeed an optimal diet, and the evidence strongly points towards a plant based diet, not a diet with lots of fish, eggs and other meat.

If you can provide evidence for you claims that would be greatly appreciated, as a health researcher I would think you would expect others to go off of true science rather than personal anecdotes about vegans converting to eat a paleolithic diet. Moderation really has little value if it is not defined how much moderation is. 1 egg a day, a week, a month?

Eggs are considered good sources of lutein and omega 3 and an excellent source of protein. For these reasons, they are considered health foods. Firstly, chickens only have lutein due to the fact that they have a varietized feed, these nutrients are not inherent of eggs. A spoonful of spinach has as much lutein as 9 eggs. We cannot really consider eggs an appropriate source of this nutrient. As for protein, all whole foods are complete sources of protein so this statement to its benefits is insignificant. Energy needs satisfy energy expenditures which is equivalent to protein needs. As long as you eat whole plant foods when your hungry till your full, then your getting enough protein.

Regarding Omega 3, current levels of omega 3 in eggs are highly inadequate and one must consume around 30 eggs to reach an acceptable level of omega 3 for the day. A male needs around 1.6 grams of omega 3 per day, a female needs around 1.1 grams a day. Omega 3 processes to EPA which is also processed to DHA, which is
highly anti inflammatory. Omega 6 processes down to arachadonic acid which is highly inflammatory. The fact that eggs are the top source of arachadonic acid nulls and voids benefits received from the omega 3 in the egg itself. High intake of arachadonic acid is linked to autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, as well as a clear link with cancer development.

In fact, David Spence, director of stroke prevention/atherosclerosis research center and one of the worlds leading stroke experts, said that based on the latest research, you can eat all the eggs you want IF your
dying of a terminal illness. Eggs are not considered health promoting nutritionally speaking.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18400699

Furthermore, in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, David Spence, David Jenkins (the inventor of the glycemic index) and Jean Davignon (director of atherosclerosis research group) posted a review on eggs claiming that the egg industry has been downplaying the health risks of eggs through misleading advertisements. As soon as you eat one egg, you expose your body to several hours worth of oxidative stress, inflammation of ones arteries, endothelieum impairment (what keeps you blood running smoothly) and increases the susceptibility of LDL cholesterol to oxidize (beginning stages of heart disease).

The egg industry has claimed that cholesterol from eggs is not important and does not raise cholesterol levels. The fundamental flaw in the study the egg industry has used to make this claim is that they measured FASTING lipid levels at night and not levels through out the day after egg consumption. “Diet is not all about fasting lipids; it is mainly about the three-quarters of the day that we are in the nonfasting state. Fasting lipids can be thought of as a baseline; they show what the endothelium was exposed to for the last few hours of the night.”

A single egg yolk contains approximately 215 to 275 mg of cholesterol. A safe upper limit can be capped at 200 mg if one is looking to prevent heart disease. One egg far exceeds this daily upper limit.

Fish is also, by far, the most contaminated animal product one can eat. These contaminants take years to leave the body, so why ingest a steady stream of these pollutants?

Dr. Greger has gathered much of the research on harms seen with animal product consumption. If you are truly interested in delving further, explore this website.

I dont have time to argue or post studies.. Ost of these studies that dr G posts are not based on grass fed meats, natural whole foods, or healthy diets…. They are done with processed foods. Thus, u cannot compare

And why do more people heal their guts and autoimmune issues going paleo vs vegan?

Regardless of organic vs conventional, there are inherent compounds found in meat, from xenoestrogens in milk, to too much preformed arachidonic acid in eggs and chicken, as well as endotoxins found in all animal foods and a spike in IGF-1 which leads to cancer promotion in all animal foods as well.

Modern meat compared with wild game still produced an inflammatory response, so we cannot view meat as a healthy food on all fronts.

Whether they be organic or not, these compounds still exist, so again, where is your evidence. Stating that “why do more people heal their guts and autoimmune issues going paleo vs vegan?” is not evidence, as this is simply a statement backed without science.

If you truly are a nutritional researcher I would think you would hold yourself to a higher standard for evidence.

It’s not the absence of meat, but the presence of more vegetables that causes healing on a “vegan” diet. Add more vegetables to your meat diet and you’ll have the same effect. Comparing a vegan diet with an egg mc muffin (and calling it “meat”) is like comparing a meat diet with soy milk (and calling it a “vegan” diet)

Despite the government shoving the whole grain food pyramid diet down everyones throat, people still can’t adhere to it. Go tell an indigenous tribe that they’re unhealthy for eating meat. Except.. they all look like olympic athletes or lightweight boxers.

What you failed to mention.. is that the short life expectancy is due to BEING EATEN BY A LION OR TIGER OR POLAR BEAR.. or getting a cut, getting an infection and not having emergency medical care. Falling and breaking their leg.. etc. NOT from diet. Diabetes, heart disease, stroke are nearly unheard of in indigenous tribes. The ones that do survive to old age are still active and have the body composition of an olympic athlete. Have you watched any shows like Beyond Survival with Les Stroud? Do you see any of the old tribesman that are obese? NO because they don’t exist. Do you see them injecting themselves with insulin or talking about their diabetes and strokes? NO because they don’t have those problems. Do you see how they’re ripped and shredded with straight up 8 packs and rippling muscles? You’re telling me that’s unhealthy? It’s interesting that an anthropologist can tell the difference between a western modern skeleton and an old skeleton just by looking at bone density and teeth. Their bones are thicker, their teeth are stronger and have way fewer cavities. Hmm…

I’m not sure. I’m not against meat but am positive that the only healthy meat, and even then in limited quantities, and according to medicinal need, are those with good immunity. That would mean animals caught in the wild, according to season, environment, and their diet, are the only ones edible. For the average person, chinese medicine says animal products should be about 5% of your diet. Seems about right to me but only if one could get ’em as natural as one could thousands of years ago.

I think an important addition to this discussion is the importance of the lymphatic system and it’s primary functions, particularly regarding inflammation in the gut. The video cut short of explaining how the body would prefer to deal with toxins and harmful bacteria from anything we consume. Sadly, it is still poorly understood, but we do know that it is the primary method of fat absorption from the small intestine. Furthermore, it is the “platform” for the immune system (most people will have experienced swollen lymph nodes during illness) where innate and adaptive immune responses are generated. Detoxification is yet another important function, where the absorption of nutrients must (should) first pass through the liver before entering the bloodstream. Compromising this design with a leaky gut obviously allows toxins and bacteria to enter the bloodstream directly, without a filter, so to speak.

Naysayer here. You’ve been warned. First off the study cited in the beginning of the video cuts off the rest of the so called “high-fat meal” just plainly stating that an Egg McMuffin and Sausage McMuffin are part of the meal. I would personally like to see the entirety of the meal composition. Without that knowledge however we’ll just move ahead with what the video showed us. The main culprit according to the theory advocated here is saturated fat causes inflammation and gut permeability. Let’s break this meal down and see if this study points us towards this conclusion. So the meal had 14 grams of saturated fat total. That leaves 36 grams of fat that is either polyunsaturated or monounsaturated. So right off the bat most of the fat is coming from polyunsaturates and monounsaturated fats. Not a good start but lets keep on cruising. This coming from snack-girl.com an Egg McMuffin contains: 300 calories, 12 g fat, 30 g carbohydrates, 18 g protein, 2 g fiber, 820 mg sodium. Fair enough. Immediately I notice that there is more than double the amount of carbohydrates in an Egg McMuffin then there are fats. Hmm… What about the Sausage McMuffin? Well this coming from foodfacts.com: 22 g Total Fat, 8 g Saturated. Cool…so 14 g are both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated. Most of the fat again in this meal so far have been poly’s or mono’s. Good to know. Run on Sentence Warning: Forgetting about the fact that the wheat and soy are some of the most allergenic substances known to man and have been GMO’d beyond all recognition and that both wheat and soy constitute a large amount of both the Egg and Sausage McMuffin, and that the egg was prepared with liquid margarine containing the following ingredients, again taken from snack-girl.com: liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, soy lecithin, mono-and diglycerides, sodium
benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservatives), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color), and forgetting that hydrogenated oils aka TRANS FATS are more pro-inflammatory that the fires of Hell, and that processed vegetable oil consumption has increased along with greater incidences of heart disease over the past 50 years, let’s just assume that the voice behind the video is telling the truth when he mind numb-ingly states that SATURATED FAT is the cause of inflammation and leaky gut when most of the meal didn’t even constitute saturated fat but instead polyunsaturated vegetable oil and hydrogenated soybean oil (polyunsaturated oil heated to incredible temperatures so that hydrogen may bond to it increasing shelf life and the temperature at which the oil burns or smokes) and that 450 calories of the entire meal were either carbs or protein. Mostly carbohydrates. Easily digestible, incredibly denatured processed and refined carbohydrates. The kind that breaks down like sugar in the body and spikes insulin production leading to fat storage and an inflammatory response incited thereof. So most of what comprises this meal which the scientists cited in the study and which the narrator used as proof for his theory and disinformation is refined carbs, processed polyunsaturated highly unstable unfit for human consumption vegetable oils, and hydrogenated oils which often get lumped into the saturated fat category when in reality are in a league of their own under Trans Fats. Let me just be frank and speak common sense. The food came from McDonald’s that was used in the study cited in the first part of this video. They, McDonald’s, makes the cost on their end as low as possible and charge the consumer as much as possible to make a profit. Refined carbs and processed vegetable oils are cheap. They add bulk and preserve the product. It really isn’t food in a sense that it nourishes you. It’s crap. Most of it isn’t even saturated animal fat. Most of the food served in that place is refined carbs, sugar, and pro-inflammatory oils. Use your brain. Why would a food that has been nourishing humans for thousands of years (saturated animal fat) all of a sudden be bad for us? Look at human mothers milk. Most of the fats are saturated. Absurdity aptly abbreviates appropriately all abundantly. Moving on, the study cited at around the 2:15 mark stated that whipped cream jolts inflammation. There is a graph with TLR4 in MNC (mononuclear cells) in the vertical section and cream, notice it doesn’t say whipped cream like the narrator said, glucose, OJ, and Water along the horizontal. WTF is TLR4? Well it’s a troll-like receptor. It is part of the immune system. It attaches to microbes or endotoxins. According to the narrator fats cause the bloodstream to be flooded with endotoxins originating from the gut, or so the theory goes. What about the cream? Undoubtedly is was pasteurized and came from cows sitting in their own dung hence the need for pasteurization. Also the diet of the milk cow is corn and soy which makes the cow produce lots of milk. It’s sold by the gallon not by the quantity of nutrients. Cows typically eat grass in a normal setting. Normal cow milk is high in CLAs (conjugated linoleic acids) and Omega-3s. Machine cows produce high Omega-6 milk with traces of pesticides and antibiotics. The cream then being pasteurized, littered with dead microbe bodies, and omega six fatty acids will obviously stimulate an immune response as all cooked food does. Kind of hard to recognize natural things in our bodies when we keep messing with their structure and composition. As for the leaky gut I’m appalled at the stretch that was made. Fat causes the gut to leak? Our gut is made out of fat! Stress, sugar, alcohol, and processed vegetable oil causes our gut to leak not to mention a severe lack of the building blocks of the gut which would help our body patch up the holes! Flora imbalance, antibiotics, NSAIDS (ibuprofen), are factors in leaky gut. Here is the deal. Whoever wrote the script for this video knew it was bogus. So I’m going to talk to the poor innocent souls who believe such lies. Don’t buy into this so quickly. Do your own research. Believe me, there are people who will lie right to your face. They have an agenda and your health and education aren’t part of it. Use common sense. Don’t be a mind controlled robot. Your body needs saturated fats. Your brain requires cholesterol in abundance. The McDonald’s meal doesn’t prove that saturated fats are evil. It just proves that McDonald’s doesn’t have the healthiest food. Anyone with half a brain knows that. This video is pure misinformation persuading you away from the truth so that you may be perpetually under the weather so to speak. Ask yourself this: What did people eat before all of these new diseases started popping up? Why didn’t they get the same diseases? What did they eat and what changed in our diet that made us sick? If you want a wake up call and an end to the BS like the video above check this out: http://vimeo.com/10533993 Sorry about the sloppiness of the writing and the hastiness of the point making and the grittiness of the presentation. It’s late, I’m tired but I can’t let stuff like this go unchallenged. All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing. Seriously though folks. Use your brain. Anybody with a microphone and some video editing software can make a video and present all of what they say as the gospel of truth. Doesn’t make it so. It took me one video to see through this whole website. Now I just laugh at their insidious lies and pathetic attempts at brainwashing. You can fool some people some of the time but you can’t fool all the people all the time. Good luck out there. It’s a mad world.

Any dairy will cause me incredible pain after an hour or two. I have cut out ALL dairy, including casein and whey. It takes 100% participation to notice a difference, since any small amount causes me great pain. I have to read food packages carefully, since it seems like so many things contain dairy, like bread products. I have been dairy free for over a year now and would NEVER go back to dairy! My mother has osteoarthritis and has had both hips replaced in the last 2 years. I am 54 and was on the same path according to my doctor before I changed my diet and went dairy free. It has literally changed my life.

Thanks, as always, Dr. Greger, for all this great info. I need all the info I can get to stop going back to buying and eating one of my obsessional foods, Jarsberg cheese. Thankfully, it is my last holdout. You have helped me feel icky about it. That’s what I need. The way the animals are raised, all the way to what it does to my arteries to the fat doing it’s damage, everywhere. One of the most important things about your site is that I can go back, watch and read in more detail whatever I need to know to keep me on my chosen healthy way of eating vegan. It helps me so much when I am swayed by outside influences or my own weaknesses to go off into old habits. I want to prefer the healthy way of eating. Thank you so much.

This doctor needs to turn in his license or have it revoked. A sausage McMuffin is NOT meat. Lets see you repeat your findings with grass fed liver or grass fed ribeye and see what happens…. Not a real doctor at all. Must be in bed with special interests to put out BS like this.

True.
I almost had a heart attack I was headed for it. I had a cardiologist and everything. Decided to live life. Quit my job, ate plant based, did yoga. 10 months later I’m 40 pounds lighter, I can breathe, my chest isn’t tight.
Vegetables and fruit that’s it! You will feel like another person. I’m happy, my wife is very happy, my kids are happy. The mood swings are gone and my mind is back in a good place.

Dr. Greger, I just found a new study which seems to say that there’s no difference in the way arteries react a diet that is high in saturated fat, mono-saturated fat or carbohydrates. Can you explain this apparent contradiction?

It sounds like you’re saying that the study is proof until someone points out the problem with mixing in confounding variables, and then the study methology doesn’t matter because you just KNOW it’s the fat. If the study can’t prove anything then why even use it as evidence? Campbell found wheat caused more inflammation and disease than meat did and he found no association with animal fat at all. If we know that white flour is VERY inflammatory, then pointing to meat studies that include white flower wouldn’t make any sense if you’re trying to prove that meat causes inflammation.

The database does not take into account the phytonutrient profile of a food which significantly dictates its inflammatory property. Regardless of what the database says, we have abundant proof that meat is inflammatory, and you can search this site to find more studies to show this. The USDA databse provides useful information of a nutrient profile but does a poor job of dictating if a food is healthy or not. For example, all fruits are listed as being “too high in sugar”, yet we know the fiber provides a slower release and studies do not show fruit consumption linked with disease, but the opposite.

In this study, overweight subjects were fed a diet that included either refined wheat or whole wheat. (3 bread slices, 2 crisp bread slices, 1 portion muesli, and 1 portion pasta) After 6 weeks there was no difference at all in their insulin sensitivity or inflammatory markers. The whole wheat was just as inflammatory as the refined wheat.

J. Nutr. June 2007 vol. 137 no. 6 1401-1407

I’m trying to see what you mean about all fruits being too high in sugar according to the database, but I don’t find that. They give a cup of Apple a glycemic load of 3 which is pretty darn low. I checked papaya too since I’m eating some right now and that was only a 3 as well. Can you reference an example of that too high in sugar warning to help me understand?

Whole wheat bread may be a poor example due to its easy digestibility when compared with less easily digested grains (ex. brown rice, wheat berries, oats, quinoa, etc.)http://www.healthgrain.org/webfm_send/251

The insulin spikes are similar with whole wheat flour, as cracked wheat or wheat berries are digested much slower.

The USDA provides the nutrient data. I do see the quote you shared when I click the link, but that comment is coming from Self Magazine, the host of that particular calculator. And even though the heading reads, “The bad:”, the statement about the bulk of the calories coming from sugar is an accurate one. Above that it also says “The good: This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber and Vitamin C”. That seems like a pretty balanced description. They have to treat each food as though it is going to be eaten in isolation unless or until you add something else. I didn’t find anything there that suggested to me that the reader was being advised to avoid eating them. Please let me know if you interpret that differently.

You said it is the phytonutrients that make whole wheat anti-inflammatory, and I don’t understand how the phytonutrient content changes when the wheat is ground. It still contains the same fiber and phytonutrients. It wasn’t only flour-based versions that the participants ate, they also ate muesli which is usually a whole grain (as in unground) food. Most cultures that eat a diet high in whole wheat eat it in the form of bread too and I’ve seen other comments of yours suggesting that the high amount of wheat is partly responsible for the health of those cultures in other threads. If you’re claiming that whole wheat is anti-inflammatory, where refined wheat is inflammatory, I see no evidence of that.

I agree that the insulin spikes are the same whether the wheat is whole or refined, but if diabetes is about inflammation and dietary fat, then the glycemic impact shouldn’t matter because this effect should be reduced if the whole wheat has anti-inflammatory properties. This study didn’t show that at all.

Phaedra: You wrote, “I don’t understand how the phytonutrient content changes when the wheat
is ground. It still contains the same fiber and phytonutrients.”

I once saw a talk from Brenda Davis, RD where she showed nutrition levels for grains going down as the grains were processed more. Flour was the lowest. (Sprouted intact grain was the highest.)

Rightly or wrongly, I interpreted that to mean that when you process a grain, such as grinding it up into flour, the substance starts to loose its nutrition. Just like say, when you pick a fruit or veggie from the plant, it starts a decline in nutrition that continues over time.

Good point, Thea. I’ve never heard of Brenda Davis, but I don’t doubt that there are differences in the raw ingredients, especially in the unstable fatty acids. But since you have to cook grain to make it edible, and the cooking reduces many phytonutrients far more than milling, (ie: phytate), I’d be more interested in the nutrient content of the finished foods. I know of lots of people who freshly grind wheat berries when they bake, in the interest of preserving nutrients, but then eat the bread over the course of several days, meaning the grain is still several days past grinding and losing nutrients by the minute. I also know of many who soak and cook up a pot of whole grain on the weekend and then portion it out over the week. I believe I even watched one if Doc Greger’s videos that encouraged this, but I’m not sure. I think that if you consider that leaving grain whole also makes the nutrients less available because the intact cellulose reduces digestibility, it seems like six of one or a half dozen of the other.

Considering the way most people eat whole grains, I can’t see how whether they are whole or ground makes much if any difference in the phytonutrient content of the cooked and edible form– and if the argument is going to be made that whole wheat is anti-inflammatory, does that refer only to the boiled form? And if so, what is the evidence that it really is anti-inflammatory? I can’t seem to find any data that shows that any form of wheat has an anti-inflammatory effect at all. Most data makes reference to “whole grains(plural)” and doesn’t look at wheat alone.

If you go to the official “Inflammation Factor” site [http://inflammationfactor.com/look-up-if-ratings/] and put “wheat” into the search feature, the58 entries and the only anti-inflammatory forms are germ and bran, everything else is inflammatory including whole buckwheat (which isn’t technically wheat). There is also an article there that explains that they recently asked NutritionData.com to stop posting IF values because they weren’t using current IF data, suggesting that the ratings found at the official site are based on the most current data available. I think that most evidence shows that wheat is inflammatory, even whole forms. And if that’s the case, feeding someone wheat while trying to prove an inflammatory response from saturated fat makes no sense at all (unless the goal is to implicate saturated fat, and a set-up is being orchestrated).

The study posted below this (or maybe above depending on how you order the list) by Allen [http://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-leaky-gut-theory-of-why-animal-products-cause-inflammation/#comment-1042406846] found no difference at all in vascular function when saturated fat is replaced with monounsaturated fat or carbohydrate. I realize this video was posted before the study was published, but it would be great to see Doc Greger address it. He’s been called out for claiming to share all of the evidence while seeming to ignoring and/or refusing to acknowledge data that doesn’t support the total elimination of animal food. It would go a long way toward proving his critics wrong if he addressed new, contrary evidence when it appears

Phaedra: All of the people I know who are eating a whole plant food based diet are focusing their diets on intact grains: wheat berries, quinoa, etc. Not lots of breads. Toxins explained why this matters, and I was just answering your question about, “I don’t understand how the phytonutrient content changes when the wheat is ground. It still contains the same fiber and phytonutrients.”

Toxins explained his *theory* but there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that he is correct since the whole kernel form is rated as inflammatory too. I appreciate your point and have considered it. Though my original point remains, if wheat FLOUR isn’t very nutritious and therefore is inflammatory (because its phytonutrients are missing according to Toxins), can you definitively prove that saturated fat is the cause of the inflammation seen in response to feeding a food that gets almost as many calories from the wheat-flour muffin as it does the sausage patty? Why didn’t the researchers simply feed the sausage alone? A skeptical person might ponder whether researchers knew that it wouldn’t cause the inflammatory response they needed to vilify the fat.

To the best of your knowledge, is there any data on the phyto-nutrient value of grain-based foods after *cooking*, or was all of the data you mentioned collected on the raw ingredients alone?

I can’t speak to your experience, but considering most veg experts recommend whole grain breads (McDougall, Campbell, Ornish, Esselstyn, Fuhrman- {though he’s not a fan of many starches} and it appears to be generally accepted as a PBWF), it’s hard to imagine that ‘most vegans’ are choosing cooked whole kernel grains over the more convenient and portable whole-grain sandwich, wrap, bagel, flatbread or cracker. Either way, without evidence that the whole grains retain more of their phyto-nutrients than milled grains do after cooking, it’s all just speculation.

Phaedra: There is one more bit I wanted to correct. You wrote, “He’s been called out for claiming to share all of the evidence…” To the best of my knowledge, Dr. Greger has never claimed to share all of the evidence. Instead, Dr. Greger says that he researches all of the evidence so that “we don’t have to.” Dr. Greger makes it clear that he is sharing what he considers to be the best science, not all of the science. In other words, Dr. Greger looks at it all, and then shares just the relevant bits with us on this site – or at least as much of the relevant bits as he has time and money for.

You can find a study to prove/say whatever you want. It isn’t in the scope of this site to comment on every study, especially studies that Dr. Greger does not think are relevant or fit the body of evidence. Nor would I consider such a scope desirable. If you are looking for a site where the expert who runs it takes the time and “air space” to review all competing ideas and studies on a nutrition topic, giving an analysis of why certain studies fit the body of evidence and others do not, I’m sure you can find another site which does so. This site has a very clearly defined scope and focus that seems to work for a very large number of people.

Of course, if you want to continue to get the great information that you can from this site and also post your own studies in order to get some dialog going, that is perfectly fine. Maybe someone will take you up on it.

Hello,my name is Andreea, I am 20 y old I became interested
in proper nutrition about a year ago(because of health problems) and this
inevitably led me to a vegan diet(high raw)-which I have yet to achieve but I
am working on it-currently vegetarian-eating only home cooked meal and lots of
fresh fruits and veggies. I have watched some of your videos on youtube (also
got your email address from one of them) and I was wondering if you have any
information on how to get rid of candida-I suspect I have been having it for
about 4-5 y now) permanently(I know that the change in diet must be permanent
for that to happen), also healing the leaky gut naturally-through diet changes
and perhaps alternative medicine(like clay therapy and such). My medical
history is not very good. Even though I have never had any major illnesses like
cancer(although I do have a slightly fatty liver, as well as a leaky gut and
candida) I have had a poor immune system since I was young(3-4 y old). I used
to have constant colds, chronic sinusitis and bladder infections frequently.
This started happening around the time they started feeding me antibiotics on a
regular basis(every time I had even a mild cold-doctor’s orders)-this is the
reason I have not taken and will not take any over the counter drugs,
antibiotics or any kind of artificial man made medicine anymore for about a
year now-and my health has improved significantly since. I have researched
about candida treatments and the conclusion I have arrived to is that a major
change in diet is a must(I haven’t been able to find solid proof or
testimonials of a certain diet to have worked long term with candida on the
web-except for a few testimonials in the raw food community). Besides the diet,
I understand that a proper detox is a must-using clay (and/or water fasting
seem like the most natural way to go) would be one option-after trying it for
myself I have noticed slight results in the way I feel. All this research
eventually led me to juice fasting(I did a 8 day fast in the summer of
2012-which felt good both during and after the fast-noticed results) and then
more recently water fasting-which I still don’t have much info about. Apparently
fasting could potentially heal the leaky gut in a matter of weeks(because
healing is accelerated during fasting) and of course that in order for the gut
to heal(as any other digestive tract illness) rest of the affected organ makes
perfect sense.Before starting a fast a raw vegan diet must be kept, in
preparation for it(for the same no. of days you are planning to fast for) and
after. By the way,I am writing everything I found in hopes that you could
confirm/unconfirm some of it so I know weather or not I am on the right track.
Up until now I have done 1 day fasts and one 3 day fast-when I had the most
awful cold of my life- I was as good as new by the end of day 3- thus
confirming the effectiveness of fasting for colds. As more background for my body’s
condition: I am currently overweight(85 kg at 1.81 m)-the heaviest I have ever
been was 87 kg-winter 2013-2014.I started gaining weight after giving up sports
4 years ago and eating junk food during that time. It’s been a year since I
have started making lifestyle changes-mainly diet because I don’t feel healthy
enough to be starting doing sports again-also I have a lot of joint and back
pain-especially when attempting physical activities-I stopped doing sports
because of how much I had hurt my lower back(the doctor said it was the back of
an old man-it was that bad) I used to have severe back pain all the time-almost
unbearable. I didn’t take any drugs for it. I did do physiotherapy 3 times
though. From what I have noticed, my body feels best when I am following a
strictly raw almost vegan diet(I eat honey). When I first tried it out(during
the times of unbearable lower back pain) the pain was literally gone within a
week from the start of that diet. I know for sure it was the diet because I did
not make any other changes to my lifestyle back then.

Also because I have candida(which at the time I didn’t know
I also suffered from severe bad body odor(which helped me find out that I was
suffering from candida and leaky gut)- I noticed my symptom(bad B.O.) decrease
in intensity after starting that diet. Unfortunately because I made the change
to suddenly from fast food to raw vegan , I wasn’t able to maintain it for
longer than 2 weeks at a time without binging on unhealthy foods in between.
Realizing that I will only be able to make this work long term if I will take
it slow and eliminate the bad stuff little by little. I am in the process of
transitioning to a healthy diet, with the ultimate goal for a raw almost vegan
lifestyle. I hope you took the time to read my email and perhaps reply with a
few words. thank you.

rick: Check out the detailed videos by Plant Positive on YouTube or his own site. He covers the Inuit along with other animal food based human populations. You will see that the claims that humans do well on such diets are suspect at best.

It seems that the rules here look like this- insulting Dr. Greger, a vegan member or a member who expresses wanting to be vegan, is against the rules and WILL get you a warning and may get you kicked out. However, if you yourself are a vegan, Dr. Greger, or someone who expressed wanting to be vegan, insulting those who disagree with you will be allowed to stand.

Quoting Jeff Bridges in Starman

Starman[after speeding in front of a large truck]: Okay?

Jenny Hayden: Okay? Are you crazy? You almost got us killed! You said you watched me, you said you knew the rules!Starman: I do know the rules.Jenny Hayden: Oh, for your information pal, that was a yellow light back there!Starman: I watched you very carefully. Red light, stop; green light, go; yellow light, go very fast.

Hello ArcanVmXII and Phaedra, we actually welcome
vigorous debate of the science no matter who you are or how you eat. We aim to make NutritionFacts.org a place where people feel comfortable posting without feeling attacked by comments that are inappropriate, like name calling. So please, for everyone’s benefit, help us foster a community of mutual respect, if not then we will need to delete your comments, not because you disagree with the research presented. Thank you in advance, Jacquie

That’s wonderful to hear, JacquieRN, I respect that policy. I would like to point out several comments in this forum that are unquestionably and deliberately insulting to other posters. How long do you expect it will take to delete them?

“for everyone’s benefit, help us foster a community of mutual respect, if not then we will need to delete your comments.”

Being kicked out of a dutch vegan forum I understand how a person can become hypersensitive toward vegan loathing and smugness.

Selfproclaimed vegans are mostly their own biggest enemy, by combining these traits with general ignorance they tend to happily destroy their own health and thrive on annoying others along the way to the point people have to walk away.

This site however is very very different!!!!!
This site is nutrition and its effects on the body based.
This allows it to be a gateway site for the average joe to find the info he needs on certain things and get interested in better eating along the way, maybe :)

Without a doubt one of the most civilized unobtrusive sites I’ve seen. Ever!

As I pointed out in another post, there is no room for animal rights in societies that do not even tend to their weakest citizens. I think Dr. Greger understands this.

When I dropped grains and processed foods(sugars) from my diet to combat ADHD and its comorbidities, my athletes foot, with me for my whole life, cleared for 99% with full closing of the skin. No more redness or broken leaking skin.

Never had it gone for more then 2 or 3 weeks after a treatment for 25 years, so I still feel its a pretty significant signal.

No idea where you are showing signs but as this kind of healing goes from inward outward it could have similar effects no matter where it bothers you.

The rest of these are from the same thread. If this is how this forum deals with those who insult and disrespect those of different opinions, it looks like you have your deleting-work cut out for you. Several appear to have been made by another moderator.

This is wonderful information, But what should those of us who have developed sensitivities to avocado, nuts, seeds, and legumes because we have a leaky gut, do to reverse the condition since we can not eat any of these traditionally vegan protein and fat sources?

I have a question about lectin in certain foods. Some Doctors say that foods containing lectin (especially grains, dairy, legumes-especially soybeans) is a big problem for people with Leaky gut/ IBS. Was wondering if you have some information on the effects of foods with high levels of Lectin?

Sorry i dont really understand english so i sometimes find it difficult to understand some stuff but on this Video time 2:10. i want to know if Orange Juice also contribute to inflammation because i can see it among the list. someone help me if i misunderstand it.

I know it’s an older video but as you’re talking about inflammation and the gut, I’d like to ask something. I’m a nutritional therapy student in UK and it seems that at the moment all the fuss is about bone broths (as gut healing, nourishing, nutrient dense foods). As a vegan, I can’t imagine myself ever recommending such a thing to clients… Dr. Greger, what’s your opinion on them or have you seen any research? I only found one study about higher lead levels in them but not much more. I’d appreciate the answer!

Dear Dr Greger: I am slowly going into vegan diet but how do I go about getting the amount of protein that is supposedly found in MEAT. I can totally switch to NO meat diet today but how /what do I base my foods to get the protein/IRON in me? I recently lost my dog…best friend of 12 yrs to hemangiosarcoma cancer, not that this would do much for the talks on the human side of things….but I did so much research to help him after he had his spleen removed due to it ruptured. I had him on a 80% raw veggie 20%cooked white chicken breast and he was doing okay. But then my vet said that I was doing my dog wrong cause his RBC was very low and that he needed IRON..so I switched it and I think it was the main cause why my dog’s tumors kept growing.
So I have to use this as a good example that a RAW VEGGIE diet is a good thing….Meat is BAD. But the reason for the change is that I was trusting my vet …that my dog needed for his RBC to go up and that meant I needed to give my dog MEAT.
So for me….how do I maintain my IRON if I was to leave the meat out my diet? I don’t eat much of it but maybe a few times a week it would be the grass feed beef or organic chicken. Is there such thing…..ORGANIC meat? Really?
So I was trying to use my dog’s experience as that the vet told me to do RED meat…but when one’s spleen is gone….doesn’t the RBC remain very LOW anyway? Can a DOG live without MEAT? Cause I keep seeing that a RAW meat diet is good for dog’s with cancer…..ugggghhhh

So would it be safer for me to go the RAW meat diet instead of cooked beef to get my IRON? uggghhhh
I just want to be able to prove that going all VEGAN is possible to get all the nutrients/vitamins needed to be in good health?

I feel that my best friend of 12 yrs, my dog is teaching me a lesson that feeding him the cooked beef did nothing but worsen his cancer metastasis…..Cause when he had his spleen removed back in Aug 2014, I took him off his dry foods of 12 yrs to my 80% raw greens blended up in baby food texture cause I knew his system was not going to be able to break it down….and 20% cooked chicken breast only….fm Aug- 2014 to Dec 2014 he was really healthy….very low inflammatory…but for some reason in later part of Dec his numbers jumped fm like 20 to 300 inflammatory…..so I really dont know what happened there.

That is when my vet said I needed to change his diet to cooked beef/livers for IRON intake!!!!

So I want to learn by this and do what is right for me…..can I get the right proteins/Iron without MEAT intake?
What can I eat in place of meat that will give me all that is needed?

How about this whole idea of PRO oxidant to fight against cancer????? There was a DR Dressler (cancer vet) and some other readings where it said that doing Pro Oxidant to fight the EXISTING cancer…..it causes the free radicals to get even more out of control in the cell where it will kill itself? But don’t do Pro Oxidant to keep cancer away…but if you have CANCER to do PRO oxidant???? Can you give me your insights on this as well?

These are subjects that I know many folks are wondering about and I know it will help me in my own decision as well.
I have a uterine tumor that I found out about 9 yrs ago….and still have it. Is there any diet that will shrink it? AS you talk about tumors….wonder if any diet would strict the blood flow to my 12cm tumor will help it shrink?

Thank you much and I suppose I could have broken out these questions but figure get it all out on table and hope to hear from you Dr. Greger as I trust your site and love your information you have on your site.

mailin: Your post spoke to me on several levels, one of which is your comments about your dog. I can relate. My dog is my best friend too. Note: I started feeding a vegan kibble to my old dog about 5 years ago. That switch cleared up a serious medical problem and now my dog is outliving the averages for his breed.

I thought I would address some of your concerns and then if you liked my responses and wanted more info, I would try to address other concerns. One of your questions is, “how do I go about getting the amount of protein that is supposedly found in MEAT.” The question is about getting *enough* protein. I strongly recommend that you carefully review the information in the following link. It will help you feel a lot more comfortable about the amount of protein you need and how to get it:http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/protein.html

Also, you can try eating a healthy (whole food plant based diet) — with a B12 supplement! – for a while and then have blood work done to see if you are having any problems. If you decide you want to eat this way, but want some pointers on how to do so, I have a good list. Just let me know.

As for cancer and shrinking tumors, there is a TON of videos on this site regarding cancer. I highly recommend taking a look.

I felt this inflammation once. As best I can tell it was in my carotid and in the left chest area-maybe lower. By eating one animal fat heavy meal (a work thing) after being WFPB for a few months, inflammation made itself known. It was spooky at first, but eventually faded.

wow. for years ive been a good vegan and I watched all of these youtubes and just nodded my head without really checking, ive now taken the time to really check what are the sources cited and it is just ridiculus! the paper Effects of a high-fat meal on pulmonary function in healthy subjects” cited in the middle of the video uses no other than Edy’s Grand Vanilla and Reddi wip original as its High-Fat Meal, that is crazy! are they using healthy fats like coconut oil or avocado or even grass-fed butter? NO! they are using shitty proccesed foods loaded with bad sugars and then Dr Greger goes and blaims the animal fat for being the culprit. that is just crazy, I can’t believe I just went along with those lies for all of this time!

Can anyone here share research findings of the effects of high sugar meals on systemic inflammation and endothelial function? It seems we have to do more than just avoid animal products but also make sure we eat nutrient rich, anti-inflammatory plants. I say this as a former boxed food vegan.

This video is pretty weak and for some reason i cant cast my vote on this so its stuck at 5 stars. Three things Id mention. 1) Egg mcmuffin contains wheat which is inflammatory 2) Its fried in constantly used polyunsaturated oil which is inflammatory 3) Cream and dairy is known to affect intestinal permeabiliity this is nothing to do with high fat content. You did show a study where lard affected intestinal permeability but it wasn’t in humans. I like a lot of your videos but this is just disappointing, hopefully the next part has more to offer.

Can someone look at this? I got this thrown at me with someone saying it meant saturated fat doesn’t cause inflammation (and also said that the only reason why studies say sat fat causes inflammation is cuz it’s don’t on people eating carbs with sat fat…..)

Interesting video, but I didn’t see any sources showing that a meal of eggs, dairy, and meat can cause such issues. The only paper cited shows fast food, which is on the extreme end of the spectrum. Any plans to expand this video looking at typical animal products consumed by people, and perhaps contrasting it with the effects of legumes on gut permeability? There are papers that suggest that legumes are just as bad for the leaky gut. As a vegan it’s hard to get the right info, and I don’t want to assume that I’m better off without paying attention to the specific protein sources I consume.

Just out of scientific interest: what means do carnivors like (big) cats etc. have to handle that spike of inflammatory stuff in their bloodstream? Or does is not even get as far because of a different digestion system? e.g. shorter colon ?

Quick question. I react with severe joint and muscle pain to just about all starchy foods including rice (lacks gluten), bread, pasta, potatos 4 hrs after eating them. Same day!!. The western Docs can’t figure (and as usual have drugs drugs drugs to solve the issue); but Naturapathic Doctors diagnosed me with Leaky Gut Syndrome (Hyper/Increased Intestinal Permeability).

Is Leaky Gut real? How do I repair my gut lining so that toxins stop leaking into my bloodstream. Ps I don’t eat meat or dairy. I react after eating all starchy foods like rice (a big culprit for me), bread, pasta, potatos etc.. Please HELPPP!! I am too young for this pain!!

I assume that you have done the testing ? The key is to find the cause which often times involves additional testing. “leaky gut” can be caused by a number of issues and will take some time and effort to evaluate and treat. The good news is that with newer techniques you really can get well. Stick with a functional and devoted physician and test don’t guess.

Ryo: hi, this is Dr. Daniela Sozanski, PhD and Moderator Nutritionfacts. I am not aware of such correlation. I do know however that as we age we tend to lose muscle mass because we do not exercise as much, while seeing a decline in physical activity of all kinds, which eventually ends up in a vicious circle, the less muscle mass, the less physical activity, causing lesser muscle mass. And it does not have to be that way. Fitness can be maintained very late in life and there are numerous examples out there. And the health benefits are innumerable. I hope this helps, Daniela

I’m doing some research on healing leaky gut as a whole food, plant-based eater. I know this video is older. I anxiously await more information. The integrative and functional medical doctors I’ve gone to over the past 20 years are very quick to point to leaky gut as the underlying cause of everything! My current physician recommends products like bone broth or collagen, as well as some “gut healing” supplements with egg and/or dairy in them. No thanks! The thing is, leaky gut is especially interesting to me as a person who reversed five autoimmune conditions eating a whole food, plant-based diet. Many times, I feel that as a woman, this is where the integrative and functional doctors want to diagnose, using leaky gut as an umbrella diagnosis or cause for things such as low ferritin, hypothyroidism, and the like. I don’t seem to have the symptoms of leaky gut. I’ve taken “gut healing” supplements like HCL, enzymes, L-Glutamine, and probiotics for five years and yes, I know that probiotics are basically not absorbed well from having delved into the archives here. Decades ago, traditional doctors gave me the diagnosis of “irritable bowel syndrome,” but eating a whole food, plant-based diet has taken care of that too! Ha! I’m actually delving into research articles and things online and shudder to think how frequently things like “leaky gut” or “candida” or “irritable bowel syndrome” get thrown around…and often, the so-called “cure” is eating an autoimmune protocol type of diet that is high in animal products. Umm, no thanks! I mean, even as a 14 year old kid when I first went “vegetarian” in the 1980s, I knew that animal products constipated me and made me feel horrendous as a serious competitive athlete. Please do more videos on leaky gut. Thanks. :)

A friend was just put on a ‘leaky gut’ diet, basically a vegan diet – except no grains or berries, but plus chicken. I hesitate to say anything to her about her diet since I have learned so much from this website and know how people get when you disagree (however gently) with what their Dr. told them. Having just watched your video “The Leaky Gut Theory of Why Animal Products Cause Inflammation”, what I would just like to know: Is ‘leaky gut’ a real thing? Or just a trendy ‘disease’?

I’ve returned to this video several times during my leaky gut research. I’m a whole food, plant-based vegan and avoid gluten, due to a celiac diagnosis. I’m so appalled and frustrated that the majority of the protocols to heal leaky gut say to consume a paleo/AIP type of diet and often, bone broth. Gross! What is the whole food, plant-based vegan approach to healing leaky gut, as in…what do you eat or general guidelines to heal leaky gut?? Thanks. Any places others could point me for assisting in my research would be most appreciated.

My recommendation is while healing leaky gut, you are not suppose to eat legumes and nuts. Stay with tempeh and tofu, vegetables (avoid brocoli, cauliflower, cabbage and radish) and cereals, you should eat fats (avocado,olive oil and coconut oil). Be careful with the amount of fats, though.
During all the process you must watch with your nutritionist how your body is responding and then change to a normal diet when is finally healed.

Hi does Dr Gregor discuss what cures Leaky Gut? I have high platletts which my doctor says might be due to leaky gut. I’ve been on plant based diet since February 2018, so for about 8 months. This same doctor wants me to take Gut Gamma Globulin which is derived from Bovine, to cure it …

Hi, maryhunter. Does your doctor sell the Gut Gamma Globulin he or she wants you to take? If so, you may want to consider looking for a new doctor. Quercetin and glutamine, both available from plant sources, can help heal the gut. Capers are rich in quercetin, and lupini beans are rich in glutamine. Feeding the healthy bacteria in the gut with a large variety of fiber-rich plant foods, especially resistant starches, will lead those gut bacteria to produce more butyrate, which will promote healthy enterocytes (cells in the walls of the gut). You might want to see these videos for more information: https://nutritionfacts.org/?s=butyrate I hope that helps!